Theatre News

Green Day’s Idiot Tours UK, Hits London Dec 2012

| London's West End |

1 December 2011

American Idiot, the 2010 Broadway musical adaptation of Green Day’s Grammy-winning album, will come to the UK in autumn next year, launching an eight-date tour from the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton from 8 to 13 October 2012.

The show, which played 422 performances at Broadway’s St James Theater and closed in April this year, will then tour to the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff from 15 to 20 October, Edinburgh Playhouse from 22 to 27 October, the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow from 29 October to 3 November, Dublin’s Grand Canal Theatre from 5 to 10 November, Manchester’s Palace Theatre from 12 to 24 November and Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre from 26 to 30 November.

The musical will then play a week’s run at London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo from 4 to 9 December 2012. A spokesperson for the production this morning said that the show hopes for a West End berth after its December run.

Billed as “the story of three boyhood friends, each searching for meaning in a post 9-11 world,” American Idiot has a book by Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and the show’s New York director Michael Mayer who also helms the show in the UK.

American Idiot includes Green Day tracks from the band’s 2004 album of the same name, B-sides, 2009 release 21st Century Breakdown as well as an unreleased song called “When It’s Time”.

The show, which began life with a twice-extended run at Berkeley’s Roda Theatre in 2009, was nominated for three Tony Awards including Best New Musical, going on to win gongs for Best Scenic Design of a Musical and Best Lighting Design of a Musical. The musical also subsequently picked up a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.

Amongst a cast of high-profile musicians who fronted American Idiot in New York, the show’s book writer and Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong performed the role of thrill-seeking drug dealer St Jimmy. A new American cast, which is still to be confirmed, will bring the show to the UK.

American Idiot has choreography by Olivier Award-winning choreographer Steven Hoggett (Black Watch), and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal). The Tony Award-winning Christine Jones (scenic design) and Kevin Adams (lighting design) will also work with the show.

Tickets for the UK tour and HMV Hammersmith Apollo dates of American Idiot in October 2012 will go on sale at 10am on Friday 9 December 2011.

– Andrew Girvan & Natalie Generalovich